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{
    "id": 578795,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/578795/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 230,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Kajwang",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2712,
        "legal_name": "Tom Joseph Kajwang'",
        "slug": "kajwang-tom-joseph-francis"
    },
    "content": "Allow me to say that the cry for freedom of expression and the cry that this State is a sovereign State is all embedded in the amendment that is sought today by the Member for Homa Bay Town Constituency. Our Constitution begins by declaring that the sovereignty of the people of Kenya belongs to the people of Kenya. That power is delegated to State organs in Article 1(a), Parliament and the legislative assemblies in the county governments. It has been interpreted right for several years since the promulgation of the Constitution and everybody understands that to mean that the people of Kenya have given Members that are sitting in this Assembly, in the Senate and in the assemblies power to discuss issues that concern them and to come up with national solutions. It means, therefore, that it is very important for the people of this country to have a situation in which their issues are discussed fairly, robustly and accurately without fear or favour. Before the Constitution was promulgated, it did not have this clause that you see under Article 117. The framers of the new Constitution decided to put it in the Constitution: that there shall be freedom of speech and debate in Parliament. It could only have been that this insertion was to buttress and fortify the section of the Constitution which opens the Constitution. Sovereignty of the people means that there will be freedom of speech and debate in Parliament. Taken together is the freedom of expression that every Kenyan enjoys; that there will be freedom of expression and people will discuss everything that they are able to do except in freedom of expression it is limited to issues that are not injurious to third parties. Hon. Deputy Speaker, the ruling my learned friend, Hon. Kaluma has raised was heard before the promulgation of the Constitution. It could have been argued at that time that Article 117 did not exist and somebody would have said that the statute on privileges of this house, that is, Chapter 7 of the laws of Kenya, was not very clear on the issue. Counsels raised an issue on what are the precincts of the House. Hon. Sungu, was somewhere along the parking next to the entrance of this House. According to the Powers and Privileges Act, that is the precincts of the National Assembly. When the judge, who is now the Deputy Chief Justice tried the issue in the high court, she decided not test, question or rule on what the precincts of the House are. She decided that anything which is said at the parking, therefore, is something which is said on the streets. The way the courts have ruled and the jurisprudence that has been built on it will, therefore, mean that if precincts of the House cannot be the physical or geographical enclosure of the National Assembly, even what we say on the Floor of this House, looking at that ruling, becomes culpable. You can see that the case was taken to the Court of Appeal, which put gags on the Motions and Hon. Sungu is unable to go to the Supreme Court. If the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court cannot handle this matter, the only way to handle this matter is to create a constitutional clarity on the issue. So, all we are saying is not to create a situation in which Members of Parliament go on abusing people saying all manner of things and injuring third parties and companies. No! What we are saying is that because we have the sovereign will of the people of this country, we come to this House and speak our mind without fear or favour. Otherwise, we will be ruled by the Executive, Legislature and the same people who are injuring the people of this country. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}